Ways in Which God Proclaims Its Value

It is the price which he has given for the flock — the Church. A ransom of no common value was needed, and he counts this blood so precious as to be sufficient for this. It was a great company that was to be ransomed — a multitude that no man can number;1 and of each of these saved ones the sins were as the sea-sand, or the leaves of the forest. They were “lawful captives,”2 — their chains heavy, their dungeon impregnable, their oppressors mighty. It was a vast ransom that was needed; but that ransom was found.

1 Rev. vii. 9. 2 Isa. xlix. 24.

The blood was deemed enough. Righteousness could ask no more. God was satisfied with the price.

So precious does God esteem it, that he deems it sufficient to pay all legal demands in full: nay, to magnify the law, so that it becomes as righteous a thing in God to acquit as to condemn the sinner. The curse of the law is no longer inevitable and necessary. God is at liberty to remove it, and in its place to dispense the blessing. What must be the value of that blood which can thus transmute the curse into a blessing — the righteous curse into the righteous blessing!

So precious does God esteem it, that on account of it he throws open the way into the holiest; as it is written, “having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.”1 It is the blood that has 1 Heb. x. 19. prevailed to open up this way, to unbar the gate, to rend the veil. And thus that wray which would otherwise have been death to the sinner to attempt to tread, becomes the way of life, — the “living way;” nay, the only way of life, — the only secure way for him to walk upon, — the only secure spot in a fallen world on which he can plant his foot. And now it is safe for the sinner to enter in, and it is honourable for God to admit him. The sanctuary is not defiled by his entrance, for the blood is there to prevent this. He does not need to be alarmed, or shrink back, for that blood which opens the way gives him also liberty and boldness in coming, removing that terror of a guilty conscience which would keep him back, and enabling him to come u with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and his body washed with pure water.” 1

So precious does God esteem it, that on account of it alone, without one particle of addition from any other quarter, he can forgive, save, justify, accept even the chief of sinners. It is through means of this blood that he keeps their consciences clean and unburdened, so that, though their sense of sin deepens and augments, their sense of guilt no longer oppresses them as before. By keeping their eye fixed upon this precious blood, he keeps their souls in perfect peace, for he shows them how that blood proclaims wrath to have been already exhausted upon another, and condemnation to have passed away. And thus it is that he carries them on from day to day, — that he may present them faultless before the presence of his 1 Heb. x. 22. glory with exceeding joy in the day of the appearing of his Son.

So precious does he esteem it, that because of it he can come in and make his abode with the soul, — dwelling in it as his chosen temple. It is the sprinkling of the blood upon the soul (which takes place so soon as we take God’s word for its efficacy) that makes it fit for being the tabernacle of the Holy One. It is the sight of this blood that makes the sinner feel safe and happy in such near contact with God; for otherwise how could He feel at home with such a guest, — the unholy with the Holy?

So precious dees he esteem it, that he makes it the answer to the various doubts and perplexing sophistries with which self and Satan would entangle the soul, either when coming to God, or after it has come, 1 Jude 24.; Heb. xiii. 20, 21.

Do the sins of past years lie heavy on it He says, behold the blood! Does a sense of personal unworthiness darken it He says again, behold the blood; and in it, that which fully makes up in my eyes for all such unworthiness! Do iniquities prevail, — rushing in like a flopd through every avenue of the soul? Ho says again, behold the blood; it “cleanseth from all sin.”1 No amount of defilement can dilute the efficacy of that blood, or make it less free to the polluted soul.

So precious does he esteem it, that on account of its rejection he will condemn the world. Contempt for it is reckoned a sin so great, that the world’s doom will hang on this. “Counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing,” or treating it as if it were such, w ill be the cause of that “sorer punishment” of which the 1 Eph. i. 7; 1 John i. 17. apostle speaks so awfully, as overhanging the unbelieving soul. Even now this is his condemnation, his sin of sins. He is a despiser of the blood. For this the “wrath of God abideth upon him,” even here. He may not feel its weight; but still it is there.

And this is God’s answer to all our self-righteous pleas in vindication of our own worthiness or goodness. “Ye have shed the blood of my Son.” This is enough. We may fancy that we are of good repute with men, possessing much that is loveable and excellent about us; but this is God’s reply to such ideas of self, and such pleadings in behalf of self. “Ye crucified him whom I sent into the world.” Nor are you ashamed of the deed. You do not disown it. Nay, you act as if you deemed that there was nothing amiss about you 1 Heb. x. 29. in this respect. Can you then justify yourselves? Are not your hands full of blood, which, if it do not justify, will inevitably condemn you; which, if it do not raise you to heaven, will sink you to the lowest hell.

It is not in one way, but in many that God has made known to us his sense of the value of this blood, — so that there might be no possibility of a mistake on our part, — so that if we had eyes we could not hut see, if we had ears we could not but hear. It is not one proclamation, but a thousand that he has made of it. For each of the different points we have been referring to is a new proclamation.

It would be well that we fully underderstood this, for then should we see how far behind we are in our appreciation of this blood. Who is there amongst us that possesses aught like an adequate knowledge or estimate of this infinitely precious blood? We use words expressive of its value; but beyond the words we seem to be profoundly dark. Most men imagine that they know its value sufficiently already, and that what they need is not a higher estimate of the blood, but a deeper impression wrought in them by the estimate which they now possess* But is it so? Is this the whole evil? Is this its root? No. Whatever they may suppose that they have, let them know this, that it is just in their estimate of the blood that they are deficient. Unwilling as they may be to credit this, yet it is true. The seat of the disease is here. The root of bitterness is here. And it is a much deeper root than they are ‘willing to own.

Instead then of taking for granted, that their estimate of the blood is correct and suitable, and that all they need is to work themselves into a better frame, they ought to look far deeper, and ask, Have I at this moment any right or real estimate of this blood at all? If I had, could I be thus disquieted and shaken with doubt! Are not these doubts the unambiguous evidence that I am at fault in my estimate?

If so,, then, let the remedy be applied to the real seat of the disease. Let us turn our eye to the blood, and to the various ways in which God has proclaimed its immeasurable value. Let us look narrowly into each one of these, and read in them the true value attached to it by him who gave it to be shed. I know no better way of removing doubts, and that not for a season, but of displacing them for ever, than bringing fully and deliberately before us those different facts in which God has so brightly embodied his proclamation of its value. Let us never cease to gaze upon them. And when the spirit droops, or Satan whispers doubt, let us gaze at them again; returning continually to those same points, which, as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, will broaden and brighten upon our gaze, till we understand, in some adequate measure, the infinite excellency of this divine blood, one sight of which is enough to allay the storm of the most guilt-stricken conscience that ever trembled under a broken law